World leaders slam North Korea, Iran

World leaders slam North Korea, Iran

The leaders of the world’s eight top industrial democracies on Saturday condemned the alleged sinking by North Korea of a South Korean warship and called on Iran to halt its suspect nuclear program and do more to respect human rights.

The countries — the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia — also called current restrictions on the flow of goods to Gaza “unsustainable.” And they sketched out a five-year exit strategy on Afghanistan.

But the joint statement by the so-called Group of Eight powers did not go as far as some nations, including the United States and Japan, wanted.